Some folks are holding “tea parties” to protest taxes, but thousands of voters in Spring Branch want to raise theirs.

Not surprisingly, they face some opposition.

At issue is whether residents of the Spring Branch school district will be annexed into the Houston Community College district.

Nearly 9,000 registered voters in Spring Branch signed petitions to have the school district annexed by the Houston Community College system, which would add an additional 9 cents per $100 on their property tax bills.

Ironically, because of the peculiarities of Texas history, Spring Branch already has a college in the Houston Community College System with an enrollment of 7,000 students. Located at the corner of Beltway 8 and the Katy Freeway, it was called the Town and Country Campus until earlier this year. With the annexation movement underway, it was renamed the Spring Branch Campus earlier this year.

So why, if they already have a campus tax-free, would residents vote to tax themselves?

One reason is that Spring Branch residents have to pay “out of district” tuition to attend their friendly neighborhood college.

High school students enrolled in the “dual credit” program that lets them take community college courses for both college and high school credit pay $152 per course. Not surprisingly, 60 percent of those enrolled come from Memorial High School, the most affluent school in the district. If Spring Branch is annexed, high school students will take the courses free, meaning an expected sharp increase in students from less affluent families.

Post-high school students at the college would see their tuition cut nearly in half, from $104 to $57 per credit hour — a savings of more than $1,400 a year for a full load of 15 hours.

But the more important reason is the part community colleges are playing in our educational system and in our economy.

The colleges' importance

For years, community colleges have been growing at more than triple the rate of four-year institutions. What's more, they are taking on more tasks.

They offer a second chance for those who — because of their own failings, family problems or bad schools — are not ready for college work. About 50 percent of students in community colleges need some remedial classes.

They offer a pathway to four-year colleges to those who need that remediation or who can't afford four years at the higher tuition rates that even state universities charge. The HCC System is the largest feeder into the University of Houston and the second largest into both the University of Texas-Austin and Texas A&M.

What's more, community colleges have become the designated institution for highly focused job training.

With most high schools having largely abandoned vocational programs, community colleges have picked up the slack, with the flexibility to work with employers to design training programs.

They have also become a key component of programs to re-train adult workers who need to find new jobs in an economy that is constantly being restructured by changing technology.

Zachary Hodges, president of the Spring Branch campus, said it can perform only part of that mission until more money is available for expansion.

“We would have more students, but we're full,” he said. “We teach science all day long until midnight and on Saturdays just to meet the need with the labs we have.”

What's more, they don't have the more expensive job-training programs other community colleges have.

Hodges is optimistic, partly because Alief in November voted nearly 4-1 to join the district. But that was in a high-turnout presidential election.

This November's mayoral election will not draw nearly so many voters, and the estimated 30 percent of Spring Branch homeowners who are over 65 will be a considerably larger part of the vote.

Many of those have a mostly fixed income and have seen their home values appreciate substantially.

Some of us who are closing in on Social Security have mixed interests: We don't want higher taxes, but our retirement checks depend on the ability of younger people to make money.